[Article] More evidence of Oc Eo culture found in Ben Tre.

11/17/2010 | VNA via VOV News

Recent archaeological studies have revealed more evidence of the existence of the Oc Eo culture dating back to 2,000-2,500 years ago in the Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre.
First traces of the ancient culture were discovered by French archaeologist Louis Malleret, who gave it the name of Oc Eo. The Oc Eo culture is believed to have formed and developed in the southern delta, largely in An Giang, from the first to the sixth century AD.
In the mid-1990s, a farmer named Huynh Van Be in Binh Thanh village, Binh Phu commune found several stone graters and axes in his garden. In 2003, a working team from the Vietnam Institute of Archaeology (VIA) and the Ben Tre Museum conducted an excavation in the area and discovered more stone tools and over 13,000 pieces of ceramics of all types.
After three excavations and two exploration digs on a total area of 484.5 sq.m, the experts collected nearly 500,000 artefacts, with 99 percent being ceramics, and over 250 kilogrammes of animal and human bones as well as Linga and Yoni objects.
The excavations also revealed vestiges of an ancient village, which scientists named Giong Noi, including a ceremic-burning ground, several large kitchens and big houses. The experts believe that Giong Noi people had their own religious beliefs which might have links with the Brahmanism as seen in the worshipping of stone, tortoise, and the sacred objects of Linga and Yoni.

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Civilisation Oc Eo : une recherche récompensée par le prix Trân Van Giàu

 
17/01/2010 [Courrier du Vietnam] 

Les travaux de recherche "Les vestiges archéologiques de la civilisation d'Oc Eo-post-Oc Eo dans la province d'An Giang" par le professeur Pham Duc Manh et ses collègues ont reçu le prix Trân Van Giàu. Il s'agit d'un ensemble de documents historiques et archéologiques concernant ladite civilisation.

Le monticule d'Oc Eo à Vong Khe, province d'An Giang (delta du Mékong), va prêter son nom à une civilisation importante de la région. En 1944, le chercheur français Louis Malleret avait mené des fouilles sur ce site et les premiers résultats d'étude étaient apparus dans sa thèse de doctorat, puis publiés dans un ouvrage de 6 volumes intitulé Archéologie du delta du Mékong.
La ville située au sud du delta du Mékong aurait été la ville portuaire la plus importante du royaume du Founan et aurait existé entre le 1er et le 7e siècle. Oc Eo aurait été reliée par un canal à la ville d'Angkor Borey, située 90 kilomètres plus au nord, qui était vraisemblablement la capitale du Founan. Parmi les causes les plus importantes de la floraison d'Oc Eo, figure sa situation sur les routes commerciales maritimes entre la péninsule malaisienne et l'Inde d'une part, et entre le Mékong et la Chine de l'autre. Pendant la période de floraison d'Oc Eo et du Founan, les bateaux de la région ne pouvaient pas couvrir de longues distances et devaient suivre la côte. Oc Eo était de ce fait une étape stratégique. La ville fut découverte, de même que nombre de villes et canaux anciens, dans des photos aériennes du Sud du Vietnam prises par les Français dans les années 1920. L'un des canaux traversait la muraille d'une très grande ville.
À ce jour, les documents concernant la civilisation d'Oc Eo sont nombreux. Outre la systématisation de ces documents, le professeur Pham Duc Manh et ses collègues Pham Thi Ngoc Thao, Dô Ngoc Chiên et Nguyên Công Chuyên ont dû se rendre sur place 3 fois, de 2006 à 2008, là où les courants fluviaux sont importants à An Giang. "Nous privilégions les fouilles des sites archéologiques de Go Tu Trâm (district de Thoai Son) et Go Cây Tung (district de Tinh Biên)”, dit Pham Duc Manh.
Selon lui, les travaux de recherche se divisent en 6 parties, dont la "culture ancienne et la collection des objets culturels typiques de l'ère préhistorique et antique d'An Giang" est la principale.

De nombreux objets découverts

M. Manh a indiqué que ce sont des reliques sélectionnées après les fouilles dans le district de Thoai Son. Il s'agit des pioches en pierre trouvées à Da Nôi ; hache, collier... dans la grotte de Nui Sâp ; outils et ornements à Ba Thê. Dans la région de Châu Dôc, des os d'animaux et des outils de production ont été trouvés. Sont présentés objets en pierre et en porcelaine, objets de métal, dents et crânes humains et os d'animaux à Go Cây Tung. Selon Nguyên Lân Cuong et Nguyên Kim Thuy, les crânes humains qui y sont trouvés sont voisins de ceux des populations thaïlandaises et des Viêt anciens.
Toujours selon le maître de recherches Pham Duc Manh, après les fouilles, de nombreuses statues bouddhiques en bois et en pierre, de celles hindoues figurant Brahma, Shiva, Vishnu ont été trouvées. Les habitants d'Oc Eo étaient d'excellents bijoutiers. L'or était finement travaillé avec de nombreux symboles brahmaniques. "En outre, nous avons trouvé des linga de différentes dimensions et matières, essentiellement en pierre. Particulièrement, des écritures en sanskrit gravées sur pierre et sur des objets en or ou en argent ont été mises à jour, facilitant l'étude de la vie matérielle et spirituelle du royaume du Founan", dit-il. Beaucoup de pierres précieuses, pierres semi-précieuses, métaux et autres biens commerciaux ne provenaient pas de la région elle-même et témoignent d'un commerce florissant dans la ville.
Depuis 1975, les archéologues vietnamiens, en collaboration avec leurs collègues étrangers, ont lancé de nombreux programmes d'étude sur la civilisation d'Oc Eo. Après avoir fouillé plus de 100 sites archéologiques, les archéologues ont affirmé qu'Oc Eo était une civilisation de nature côtière au développement prospère. Tombée ensuite dans l'oubli, elle ne figure plus dans les documents d'histoire du moyen âge. Les archéologues continuent de rechercher les causes de la disparition de cette culture. Une série en a été évoquée : déluge, inondation, épidémie, etc. "D'après moi, il faudrait continuer à rechercher les traces de la civilisation post-Oc Eo, des documents ainsi que des preuves pour conclure de manière exacte", souligne Pham Duc Manh.
D'après le chercheur Tô Buu Giam, président du comité du prix Trân Van Giàu, l'ouvrage d'étude réalisé par Pham Duc Manh et ses collègues liste de manière systématique les objets récoltés sur les sites archéologiques fouillés dans la province d'An Giang depuis un siècle. "Il s'agit d'une source documentaire sûre et de valeur scientifique", dit-il.

Le prix scientifique Trân Van Giàu

Le prix portant le nom du professeur Trân Van Giàu, né le 6 septembre 1911, a été créé en 2003. Réservé aux Vietnamiens des 4 coins du monde, ce prix est décerné dans 2 disciplines : histoire et histoire des idéologies. En 7 ans, 4 travaux d'études historiques ont obtenu ce prix.
Le prix a été décerné pour la première fois aux travaux de recherche du chercheur Thai Hông sur Nguyên Tri Phuong (1800-1873), dignitaire célèbre de la cour des Nguyên (1858), Gia Dinh (1861) et Hanoi (1873) ; la 2e fois a vu récompenser la monographie sur le Nam Bô du chercheur Nguyên Dinh Dâu et la 3e fois l'étude sur l'histoire des résistances de la population du Nam Bô.
Le professeur Trân Van Giàu a utilisé la totalité de ses économies pour alimenter le fonds qui porte son nom. Chaque ouvrage d'étude primé recevra des centaines de millions de dôngs. Cette année, l'ouvrage d'étude du professeur Pham Duc Manh a reçu 150 millions de dôngs comme prime.
“Le professeur Trân Van Giàu souhaitait que les générations suivantes poursuivent ses travaux d'étude", révèle Tô Buu Giam, président du comité du prix.

Hoàng Phuong/CVN (16/01/2010) (lecourrier.vnagency.com.vn/...)

VietNamNet Bridge - HCMC museum opens Oc Eo/Champa culture exhibits

VietNamNet Bridge 13 january 2010 - The Museum of Vietnamese History in HCM City yesterday, January 12, opened two permanent exhibits of the Oc Eo and Champa cultures.

On display are 439 ancient artefacts and sculptures made of gold, silver, copper, gems, pottery, wood, and sandstone.
The Oc Eo exhibition features remnants of tools, vases, and statues of Gods made of earth during the Oc Eo culture (between the first and sixth centuries) which were found in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta, mostly in An Giang Province.
They reveal close the delta people's trading relations with India.
The Champa exhibit has artefacts made of copper in the seventh and ninth centuries and provides an overview of Cham art until the 15th century.
The collection, along with those at the Da Nang Cham Sculpture Museum and the Museum of Vietnamese History in Ha Noi are some of the biggest collections of Champa artefacts in the world.
The two exhibits are part of a five-year Promoting Viet Nam's Museum Heritages project undertaken by Viet Nam and France.
Besides promoting the country's historical and cultural heritages, the project will also train Vietnamese officials in museum design, organisation, and management.
France is helping modernise five museums - the Museum of Ethnology in Ha Noi, Dac Lac Museum, Da Nang Cham Sculpture Museum, and the War Remnants Museum and Museum of Vietnamese History in HCM City.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News

Des archéologues reçoivent le prix Trần Văn Giàu.

Seven decades and counting, an archaeological site continues to yield vestiges of one of Vietnam’s three most prominent ancient cultures.

A definitive conclusion about Oc Eo being the capital of the ancient Funan kingdom has verified yet, but a group of archaeologists have compiled an important body of work about vestiges of this city/culture.

One site in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang, in particular, has proved rich in related artifacts.
< A statue of Oc Eo Culture exhibited at a
museum in Thoai Son District, An Giang
Province in the Mekong Delta.

For their “most complete” scientific work in the field, the archaeologists from Ho Chi Minh City have won the Tran Van Giau Prize, (Professor Trần Văn Giàu, born in 1911, is a well known historian[1]), a prestigious annual history award for this year.

 - “This is a reliable source of materials and has high scientific value,” said To Buu Giam, head of the jury that selects winners from unpublished or newly-published historical works related to the southern region.

The group has structured clearly all the relics and vestiges unearthed through field trips, excavations and investigations made over the past century, Giam said.

They also conducted three field trips in areas surrounding An Giang’s major streams to add to their findings, Associate Professor Pham Duc Manh, who led the research, told Thanh Nien.

 - “We gave priority to excavating the Go Tu Tram vestige in Thoai Son District to learn more about the stratigraphy (a method to date artifacts by cutting a section vertically through the Earth to show different layers) of Oc Eo period through pottery,” he said, adding that the Go Cay Tung vestige in Tinh Bien District, where human skeletons were found, was another focus of their research.

Although he didn’t give particular figures about their findings, Manh said they had found random relics including quadrangular stone axes and adzes as well as animal and human skeletal remains in the two districts.

 - “We introduced all the test results in terms of petrography (rock examination to determine mineral content) for stone samples, spectrum for pottery and metallic samples, as well as testing human and animal tooth samples.”

The tests showed that the ancient human skulls found in Go Cay Tung were very close to those of ancient Thai, Vietnamese and Dong Son people – the Southeast Asian group, said Manh, citing conclusions drawn by his colleagues Nguyen Kim Thuy and Nguyen Lan Cuong.

Yet they are quite different from Vietnam’s ethnic minority people of Thuong and Kh’mer, he added.

The research also records findings about a variety of stones, tin and terracotta relics of different shapes including women, lion heads, tortoises and cobras.

The archaeologists have systematized 1,116 gold sheets with carved figures of Hindu gods like Brahma (the Creator of the Universe) and Shiva (Destroyer) and others.

These sheets with geometric shapes, decorative objects and ancient characters account for the most – around 54.4 percent, according to Manh.

 - “Remarkably, ancient Sanskrit writings carved on stones, gold and silver have contributed significant proofs to the study about the ‘literate’ spirit and material culture of the ancient Funan kingdom.”

Several stone and bronze statues of Buddhists in sitting and standing positions have also been found, as well as sacred objects like Yoni and Lingams in various shapes, sizes and materials, including granite and sandstone. 

All the new findings have been added to the compiled materials to make up the six-part work comprising thousands of pages, which is yet to be published.

The researchers said they found it difficult to understand how and why such an “ancient coastal swamp” culture with great developments vanished into thin air, even in historic records.

 - “Sea penetration or deluge? Epidemics? None of these theories are convincing,” Manh said.

He feels interested researchers should keep looking for clues around the flatland on the west of the Hau River.

OC EO

According to the researchers, Oc Eo was first mentioned by a French doctor referred to as Dr. Gore in 1879 and then by French archaeologist Louis Malleret in 1937.

Malleret started excavating the 450- hectare site in 1943 and since then, many Vietnamese archaeologists along with their foreign counterparts from countries like the US and Japan have conducted many studies and field trips.

Thousands of relics, including sophisticated pottery with intricate floral designs, gold and silver currency, and even Roman coins, have been unearthed so far. Many of the artifacts are now on display at the Ho Chi Minh City Museum, the National Museum of Vietnam History in Hanoi and some museums in the Mekong Delta provinces.

Together with the artifacts, many hypotheses have also been raised around the site as well as the Oc Eo Culture, which is typified by the artifacts excavated there.

Some scholars have said Oc Eo is the capital of Funan kingdom, while others believe the site, located within a network of ancient canals that crisscross the low flatlands of the Mekong Delta, was once a busy port of the kingdom.

There is no question, however, that the Oc Eo Culture has for long been considered one of the most prominent ancient Vietnamese cultures of the Iron Age along with the Dong Son Culture in the north and the Sa Huynh Culture in the central region.

Reported by Giao Huong

[1] Informations sur Trần Văn Giàu : voir le site facultystaff.richmond.edu... et la fiche vi.wikipedia.org...